Ofcom is touting potentially lower prices in the future for business telecom users after it published its proposals for controlling the wholesale prices that BT charges for leased telephone lines.
However BT told Techweek Europe that it remains ‘concerned’ at Ofcom’s proposals for the leased lines charge control.
Wholesale clampdown
Today’s publication of the proposals come after Ofcom’s decision last month to tighten the regulations over how BT shares its high-end telecom lines.
BT told TechWeekEurope at the time that it was “disappointed” by some of the proposals, but welcomed the recognition of increased competition in London, because Ofcom would allow for a decrease in regulations and controls in London because of the increased amount of competition in the capital.
Ofcom however has BT Wholesale firmly in its sights with the proposals, as it thinks it has “significant market power in a number of wholesale leased line services, and that charge controls should be imposed in the relevant markets to protect purchasers of these products.”
Leased line price cap
Ofcom said that it expects the proposed controls will lead to real-terms price reductions for most customers of the £2bn leased lines market, such as businesses, schools, universities and libraries. It also thinks that consumer mobile and broadband operators, which of course use leased lines to transfer data on their networks, would also see cost-savings (which could in turn be passed on to their customers it hopes).
Essentially, what Ofcom is proposing is overall caps linked to inflation (measured under the retail price index, or RPI), designed to align the prices of these BT products with their cost by 2015.
It thinks these controls would be applied to both legacy leased lines using “traditional interface” (TI) technology, and newer telecoms lines based on the faster Ethernet standard for sending data at very high speeds over networks.
And Ofcom is proposing a lighter regulatory touch for low bandwidth Ethernet lines in west, east and central London, where BT faces greater competition from other providers.
BT concern
Despite Ofcom’s proposals, it is clear that BT remains concerned at some aspects of the scheme.
“Ofcom have today published their proposals for the leased lines charge control as part of its regular triennial review of the market,” BT told Techweek Europe in an emailed statement. “While we note Ofcom’s recognition of the costs and declining volumes across Partial Private Circuit products, we have some concerns about the proposals for wholesale Ethernet services pricing outside the London area.”
“We will engage with Ofcom to make our views clear,” BT added. “We believe regulation should allow a fair return on leased lines products in order to ensure sustainable investment in the future of the UK’s telecoms infrastructure.”
Interested parties have until 30 August to respond to the consultation before Ofcom makes its final decision.
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BT upset at Ofcom's wholesale leased-line price cap plan - The Register
BT upset at Ofcom's wholesale leased-line price cap plan
Watchdog hopes it'll drive down costs for telco's rivals
Posted in Telecoms, 5th July 2012 12:02 GMT
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BT is worried about Ofcom's plans to tighten its control of the national telco's wholesale Ethernet services prices outside of London.
The communications watchdog warned today that it had proposed to come down hard on BT charges for products using leased telecoms lines - which provide high-speed links for businesses including BT's rivals who provide superfast broadband and mobile services.
At the same time, Ofcom has also gone soft on BT by promising a "safeguard cap" on low bandwidth Ethernet lines in west, east and central London, because those are the areas where the telecoms giant faces more competition.
Ofcom proposed today that "no prices can rise over the three-year period" for each relevant Ethernet service in those parts of the capital outlined by the watchdog.
BT said in a statement to The Register:
While we note Ofcom's recognition of the costs and declining volumes across Partial Private Circuit products, we have some concerns about the proposals for wholesale Ethernet services pricing outside the London area.
We will engage with Ofcom to make our views clear. We believe regulation should allow a fair return on leased lines products in order to ensure sustainable investment in the future of the UK's telecoms infrastructure.
Ofcom clearly disagrees with BT's concerns. It said:
Ofcom expects the proposed controls will lead to real-terms price reductions for most customers of the £2bn leased lines market, such as businesses, schools, universities and libraries.
Consumer mobile and broadband operators, which use leased lines to transfer data on their networks, would also see savings which could be passed on to customers.
The regulator proposed the following for BT's prices based on retail price index (RPI) inflation:
- For BT’s traditional interface services, Ofcom is proposing an overall basket cap of between RPI + 0 per cent and RPI + 6.5 per cent, with a central estimate of RPI + 3.25 per cent.
- For BT’s Ethernet services, we are proposing an overall basket cap of between RPI - 8 per cent and RPI - 16 per cent, with a central estimate of RPI - 12 per cent.
Ofcom said that public consultation [PDF] on its proposals would run until 30 August. The regulator will then review the comments, consult with the European Commission and then report its findings in early 2013.
Last month, the comms watchdog confirmed it was planning to put forward proposals to regulate 1Gbps+ wholesale leased lines that exist outside of Blighty's capital.
At the same time, Ofcom made it clear in June that it wouldn't intervene on the touchy subject of BT's so-called dark fibre (unlit/unused optical fibre), which rivals had hoped the national telco would rent out on a wholesale basis.
Brussels commissioner 'Steelie' Neelie Kroes has been lobbying for years to get incumbent telcos in Europe to allow access to "unlit" fibre already laid but not used, so that rival firms can light it themselves.
Just yesterday, the EC stalled the UK's superfast broadband plans amid competition concerns that the bidding process for public funds had turned into a two-horse race between BT and Japanese company Fujitsu, which is investing around £2bn in Britain to gain put its own fibre tentacles into the country. ®
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Costco June same-store sales miss forecast - Reuters UK
(Reuters) - Costco Wholesale Corp (COST.O) posted a 3 percent rise in same-store sales in June, missing analysts' forecasts for the fourth time in a row, as a strong dollar hurt the value of its sales overseas.
Analysts on average had expected sales in stores open for at least a year to increase 3.7 percent in June, including the impact of fuel prices and foreign exchange, according to Thomson Reuters data.
"These results reflect both a negative calendar shift in the U.S. and the impact of the strengthening dollar, particularly against the Canadian dollar and the Mexican peso," Guggenheim Securities analyst John Heinbockel wrote in a note.
Costco, which sells everything from potato chips to outdoor plants, typically prices gasoline below nearby service stations. Sales at Costco benefit when gasoline prices rise.
Analyst Heinbockel said comparable store sales would weaken further if disinflation continues to work its way through the system.
Net sales at the largest warehouse club operator, which currently runs 605 warehouses in nine countries, rose 6 percent to $9.18 billion for the five-week period ended July 1.
International same-store sales, excluding the impact of fuel prices and foreign exchange, rose 8 percent in June. However, overseas sales increased only 2 percent including those effects.
The company's shares, which have risen 10 percent this year, closed at $94.42 on Tuesday on the Nasdaq.
(Reporting by Balaji Sridharan and Ranjita Ganesan in Bangalore; Editing by Hans-Juergen Peters, Maju Samuel)
Fukushima nuclear disaster was 'man-made' says damning new report - Daily Mail
- The operator of the power plant, Japanese government and regulators are all criticised in report by parliamentary panel
- 'They effectively betrayed the nation's right to be safe from nuclear accidents' says report
- The findings call for further investigation into the impact of the 9.0 magnitude earthquake on the reactors at Fukushima
By Anthony Bond
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The nuclear accident at Fukushima in Japan last year was a 'man-made disaster' and not completely caused by the devastating tsunami, a new report has said.
The Japanese parliamentary panel today submitted its final report on the catastrophe. The probe is the third of its kind in Japan since the world's worst nuclear crisis in a generation.
In a damning report, the Diet's Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission said:
'The TEPCO Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident was the result of collusion between the government, the regulators and TEPCO, and the lack of governance by said parties.'
Damning: The nuclear accident at Fukushima in Japan last year was a 'man-made disaster' and not completely because of the tsunami, a new report has said. Workers are pictured spraying water to cool down the spent nuclear fuel rods two weeks after the disaster
Devastation: The Japanese parliamentary panel today submitted its final report on the catastrophe. One of the damaged reactors is pictured
Disaster: Smoke is pictured ascending from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant's Unit 3 in Okumamachi, Fukushima Prefecture, northern Japan on Monday, March 14, 2011
'They effectively betrayed the nation's right to be safe from nuclear accidents. Therefore, we conclude that the accident was clearly 'man-made'.
'We believe that the root causes were the organisational and regulatory systems that supported faulty rationales for decisions and actions, rather than issues relating to the competency of any specific individual.'
The nuclear disaster followed a 9.0 magnitute earthquake off the coast of Japan in March last year - the most powerful ever known to hit the country.
It led to a massive tsunami which devastated many towns and villages and led to almost 20,000 deaths.
Normal: The Fukushima plant is pictured before the disaster in 2008
Damaged: This picture 8 days after the explosion shows the crippled plant. The operator of the plant Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) was criticised in today's report
An earlier report by plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) had all but cleared the huge utility, saying the size of the earthquake and tsunami was beyond all expectations and could not reasonably have been foreseen.
But an independent group of scholars and journalists, who reported their findings in February, said TEPCO could and should have done more.
It also said that had the company had its way, its staff would have been evacuated from the crippled plant and the catastrophe could have spiralled even further out of control.
The findings published on Thursday call for further investigation into the impact of the 9.0 magnitude earthquake - as opposed to the towering tsunami - on the reactors at Fukushima.
Wrecked: Waves swallow a seaside village on March 11 after an earthquake leads to a massive tsunami in Japan. An explosion at Fukushima occured the following day
Horrific: Local residents walk among destroyed houses and debris in the tsunami-damaged city of Rikuzentakata, in Iwate prefecture
'As for direct cause of the accident, the commission reached the conclusion that we cannot definitely say any devices that were important for safety were not damaged by the earthquake,' it said.
'We cannot rule out the possibility that a small-scale LOCA (loss-of-coolant accident) occurred at the reactor No. 1 in particular.'
Although many scientists and activists have questioned the dominant narrative that cooling systems were knocked out by the rising waters, the government and TEPCO have been unwilling to say the reactors could have been damaged by the initial earthquake.
Tectonically-volatile Japan has a network of nuclear reactors that, until Fukushima, had supplied around a third of the nation's electricity.
HOW HUGE EARTHQUAKE LED TO THE FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR DISASTER
2011
March 11 - A 9.0 magnitude earthquake hits Japan leading to a massive tsunami
March 12 - Explosion and radiation leak confirmed in reactor 1 at Fukushima
March 14 - Blast destroys concrete building in reactor 3
March 15 - Explosion reported in reactor 2 and fuel rods exposed for a while
March 20 - Government says plant will be decommissioned once crisis is over
March 23 - The Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary also advises that high levels of radioactivity have been found in Tokyo's drinking water
April 2 - It is discovered for the first time that contaminated water is flowing into the sea
April 3 - The first deaths at the plant are confirmed - two workers missing since March 11 are found dead
Wrecked: Smoke is seen coming from the area of the No. 3 reactor of the power plant
April 22 - Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan states additional towns might be asked to evacuate
May 5 - Workers enter the reactor 1 building. This is the first time since the start of the crisis that a reactor building in the plant is visited by a human being
June 3 - The first case is confirmed where radiation levels in humans have exceeded safe limits since the accident at the plant
October 31 - A French study revealed that the Fukushima nuclear disaster caused the biggest discharge of radioactive material into the ocean in history
December 15 - A long-range timetable is announced for the decommissioning of the Fukushima reactors. The decommissioning work will be completed by 2052
2012
April 5 - Highly radioactive wastewater is accidentally discharged into the sea
July 5 - The nuclear accident at Fukushima in Japan last year was a 'man-made disaster' and not completely because of the tsunami, a new report claims
The nuclear industry has long boasted of its many safeguards against earthquakes, but much recent public opposition to atomic power has focused on plants' vulnerability, especially those that sit near seismic faults.
In May this year it was revealed that fuel bills in Britain will rise this winter because of the devastating earthquake in Japan.
Supplies of liquefied natural gas are being diverted east after the tsunami shut its nuclear power reactors.
It could push the wholesale price of gas up by as much as 28 per cent, energy market analysts claimed.
In March, it emerged one of the crippled nuclear reactors still has fatally high radiation levels and much less water to cool it than officials had thought.
The news renewed doubts about the plant's stability and provoked fears the other two reactors that had meltdowns could be in even worse shape.
In December last year a long-range timetable was announced for the decommissioning of the Fukushima reactors. The work will be completed by 2052.
The perks of being famous: Little Mix go sale shopping together and splash out on more clothes - Daily Mail
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Every time they're photographed they're wearing a different outfit, yet Little Mix still don't feel they have enough clothes.
The girl group were spotted hitting the sales today as they took a trip to Oxygen Boutique in London and left holding several bags.
Jesy Nelson, Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall appeared to have had a successful shopping trip together as they carried their new purchases.
The perks of being famous: Little Mix look excited as they leave KISS radio station to head off on a shopping trip
Happy ladies: Jade and Leigh-Anne look pleased with their purchases following a trip to London's Oxygen Boutique
The foursome spent plenty of time perusing the rails inside the shop - which appeared to be selling one-off items of clothing.
Jesy, 20, looked rather serious as she inspected the garments and certainly hasn't dressed as if it was the middle of summer.
Instead, the Essex-born star teamed a red, white and black beanie hat with a camouflage army shirt, a denim jacket and Boy London leggings - which is a brand favoured by Rihanna.
Just looking: Jesy browses the rails of clothes while Jade admires some jewellery
Shopaholic: Perrie admired some floral wedged boots as well as the clothes
Jesy completed her look with a pair of black patent lace-up boots and several pieces of costume jewellery.
The rest of the girls also stood out as they wandered around the store looking for new outfits.
Perrie chose to wear navy blue shiny leggings with white socks, Mary Jane shoes and a sleeveless denim jacket.
The blonde star was spotted admiring a pair of towering floral wedges as she was followed around the shop by the group's assistant.
Decisions, decisions: The girl group discussed their possible purchases as Perrie tried on a pair of shoes
Leigh-Anne decided to bare her midriff despite the rainy weather and chose to wear a pair of bright green jeans with a black crop top.
She completed her look with a pair of chunky boots, and various rings and bracelets and had a huge smile on her face as she carried her shopping bags.
A helping hand: Perrie and Jesy stayed close to a female assistant who had accompanied them on their shopping trip
Last but not least, Jade covered up in a pair of stonewashed skinny jeans, a baggy floral top and a purple hoody with bright blue trainers.
It's no wonder the girls were in a happy mood following their shopping trip as they've received fantastic feedback from their fans ever since they debuted their new single Wings at T4 on the Beach last weekend.
Positive feedback: The group tweeted a photo of themselves at T4 on the Beach after they'd performed their new single Wings
Westfield unveils plans for Croydon shopping centre - BBC News
First they headed west. For London's debut mega-mall, which opened in 2008, White City, on the doorstep of the affluent Notting Hill and Holland Park, was an obvious choice of location for retail giant Westfield's property developers.
It was a shrewd second move to look east. Next door to the Olympics Park, the regenerated Stratford was chosen for Westfield's second giant London shopping complex. It opened last September and has generated more than £500m in sales.
Now the retail giant has unveiled plans to build its third shopping mall in the capital - in Croydon, south London.
Westfield promises a £1bn redevelopment of the Whitgift shopping centre, which would offer 1.5 million sq ft (0.46 million sq m) of retail space, a multi-screen cinema, a bowling alley and a multitude of restaurants.
An alternative scheme by retail developers Hammerson, which already owns the neighbouring Centrale shopping centre, is expected to be unveiled later this month.
But why Croydon? With department store Allders, whose flagship store has been the town since 1862, announcing it had gone into administration last month, surely the town's success as a shopping destination is not guaranteed?
In another blow to the town's confidence, in January, confectionery giant Nestle announced it was moving its UK headquarters and 840 jobs from Croydon to West Sussex after more than 40 years.
Riots fundIndependent record store owner Duncan Barnes said: "Croydon used to be very cosmopolitan and thriving. But the rot's been setting in for years and has never been addressed.
"The recession has brought the chickens home to roost. Croydon's now full of empty boarded up shops, bringing the tone of the place down.
"The riots exposed Croydon's shortcomings to the world," added Mr Barnes, who set up his 101 Records store in Croydon in 1973.
Croydon was one of the areas of London worst hit by rioting and looting last August.
In September, it was announced the area would receive £23m as part of a regeneration fund allocated to the boroughs worst affected by the disorder.
'Great location'Westfield's development director John Burton explained why the firm had set its sights on Croydon, in a scheme he says will create 5,000 jobs and up to 600 new homes.
"It's a great location with good transport links," he said.
"There are huge numbers of people who really should be shopping in Croydon, who aren't because the variety, fun, safety and excitement just isn't there.
"We can create something that will convince people to come back and return Croydon to the top of the ladder."
A Hammerson spokesman explained why he thought his company was more suited to developing the Whitgift centre.
"We have deep experience in redeveloping town and city centres, and can help return Croydon to its rightful place as one on the UK's top retail destinations," he said.
'Abysmal footfall'Meanwhile 101 Records' Mr Barnes said he approved of plans for regeneration but added: "I don't think Westfield is the right tenant."
His store is based in the Centrale shopping centre, owned by Hammerson and across the road from the Whitgift centre.
"Westfield will not help bring customers to my store. We're over the other side - in a location with abysmal footfall," Mr Barnes added.
"If two opposing landlords own the different shopping centres in Croydon, there will be constant bickering, slowing progress down."
But Mr Burton said the firm's shopping centre plans for south London would attract more people to Croydon, increasing footfall to shops throughout the town centre.
He added that Stratford retailers raised similar concerns before east London's Westfield was built but "Stratford has not been decimated as people predicted."
"The tales of doom, gloom and devastation have not come true," he said.
Back at 101 Records, Mr Barnes, has some heartfelt advice for whichever of the firms is successful in Croydon.
"We're all at the end of our tether," he said. "They need to get a move-on with the redevelopment. Time is running out."
A four-day exhibition showing Westfield's proposal is being held on North End near the Whitgift Centre.
TEPCO has a long history of buying politicians, and they will never have to pay the damages caused by their operation of nuclear plants built with antique safety standards. They had 40 years to upgrade these plants, but that would have reduced their profits. Until politicians and business owners are prosecuted as criminals, this sort of thing will continue to happen.
- Libretal, just like our Founding Fathers, usa, 05/7/2012 12:47
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